Cardinal Antoine Kambanda on Monday, March 1, said that Rwanda and the Catholic Church had lost a man who demonstrated great zeal to bring about peace in communities.
Kambanda was speaking during a requiem mass that was held in honor of Catholic priest Ubald Rugirangoga, which was held at Regina Pacis Catholic Church in Remera.
Kambanda paid glowing tribute to the late cleric, saying that his time on earth was characterised by a sense of responsibility to re-build the Rwandan community.
Rugirangoga, who died from the United States in January from respiratory complications stemming from Covid-19, is renowned for his countrywide crusades through which he promoted unity and reconciliation.
Clerics in a procession out of Regina Pacis Catholic Parish in Remera on Monday, March 1, with the body of Father Rugirangoga after the requiem mass celebrated in his honour. Photo: Dan Nsengiyumva.
"Brethren, God has taken back Father Ubald whom he had given to us. He leaves us with purpose and a legacy that we must uphold in the time to come,” Kambanda told the congregation.
He added that in life, people are created with different callings that will help them lead purposeful lives, adding that the deceased cleric was gifted with that of peacemaking among other values.
Despite the tragedy brought to him by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Father Rugirangoga fulfilled the message of God, Cardinal Kambanda stated.
"Father Ubald encountered several challenges including a life of discrimination based on tribalism, violence as well as losing his family during 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. But all this didn’t deter him from fulfilling his clerical mandate,” he said.
Addressing mourners, retired Bishop John Rucyahana, the Chairperson of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission commended the deceased priest for his ‘ministry of peace and unity’.
Rucyahana described the 65-year clergyman as a gift from God.
"The National Commission for Unity and Reconciliation is saddened by the untimely passing of late father Ubald, but at the same time proud to uphold the values of unity and reconciliation he leaves behind,” he said.
In 2015 the deceased cleric was honoured with the protector of friendship pact Umurinzi w’Igihango by Unity Club-Intwararumuri, for his peace-oriented initiatives.
"For those of us who knew him, he was known for his honesty and hated any form of injustice despite himself having been a victim of injustice,” said Rucyahana.
Burial ceremony on Tuesday
Following the requiem mass, Father Rugirangoga’s remains were taken to his home parish in Rusizi district where the burial ceremony is expected to take place on Tuesday, March 2.
He will be buried at the Centre of Secret of Peace in Nkanka Catholic Parish, which he helped found.
Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic only 20 people have been cleared to participate in the ceremony, according to officials from the church.
However, the Catholic Church announced that the ceremony will be live streamed on different platforms of the church to allow Rwandans follow the burial online.
Who is late Rugirangoga?
Born on April 26, 1955 in Karengera Sector, Nyamasheke District, Rugirangoga was a genocide survivor whose father was killed in 1962 and his mother in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
He is renowned for his seminars in which he urged Genocide perpetrators to seek forgiveness and survivors to forgive their tormentors as part of the healing process.